Annual Nightmare
by InTheRaine
Summary: Years go by and no one really seems to change. But for one member of the team, a certain time of year is slowly eating away at them. Can the rest intervene before it's too late?
1. Chapter 1

Silence and sawdust filled the air of Jethro Gibbs' dark basement. He lay on his boat, staring wide eyed at the ceiling, having not slept a wink the entire night. A nearly empty bottle of bourbon sat on his workbench with all of his tools, having been depleted for the most part from that night.

_This gets harder every time.. Every year that goes by.._

He squeezed his eyes shut as hard as he could. These next few days were going to be rough, for all involved. And he wanted to involve as few people as he could.

The buzz of his cell phone brought him out of his reverie. "DiNozzo" was displayed on the screen.

"... Yeah... Gibbs.."

His senior field agents tired voice yawned through the phone. "Uh sorry boss did I wake you?."

"No DiNozzo, what do you want," he snapped.

"Uh petty officer was found dead. They want us at the scene."

Gibbs looked over at the clock: 5am. "Be right there." And Gibbs hung up the phone.

Tony back at his desk looked at the receiver (now buzzing with the dial tone) and hung up. "Well someone woke up on the wrong side of the boat this morning," he grumbled.

--

Gibbs rode the silver elevator up to the squad room, black coffee in hand, and dark circles under his eyes betraying the lack of sleep from the previous night. It dinged and he strode in, not bothering to greet Tony who already was seated at his desk waiting for the rest of the team to arrive. He sat down and ran his hands through his normally neat silver hair. A sigh of fatigue escaped him.

Trying to be discreet, Tony tossed several concerned glances at his boss. He didn't want to admit it, but his fearless leader looked like hell. Something was amiss in the life of Jethro Gibbs, and Tony really needed to find out what.

His thoughts were interrupted by the arrival of McGee and Ziva.

"Gear up," muttered Gibbs, without his usual urgency. As he headed for the elevator, the three agents shared a look at each other. Each of them had felt it.

Something wasn't right.

--

When they arrived on scene Ducky was already there with Palmer which was a bit of a change of pace.

A knowing look appeared in his eyes as he took in the sight of his close friend. Almost as if he understood exactly what was going on. This did not go unnoticed by the team, who had been watching Gibbs like a hawk the entire ride over.

"Ah hope you don't mind Jethro, but Mr. Palmer decided today would be a good day to actually make it to the crime scene without any incidents. Seems to be a pretty basic shooting, but as always I'll know more when we get him back.."

"Got it Duck.. DiNozzo, David, shoot and sketch. McGee, take statements from the guy that found him.." And with that he just walked off.

As soon as he had left their sight, the trio turned to look at the medical examiner, their eyes asking the question that had burned in their minds all day.

"Ah I see where this is going.. Mr. Palmer would you please fetch the gurney for me I do believe we are done here."

As Palmer scurried off to do what he was told, Ducky walked over to McGee, Tony and Ziva. A somewhat grave shadow was cast across his expression.

"You three don't know what tomorrow is.. do you?"

"No," they all replied in unison.

"Well it would be best if I weren't the one to reveal it. It's Jethro's business.. But I would advise you all to not cross him for the time being."

They nodded as Palmer returned with the gurney and went to do their respective duties. None of them, however, had their minds on anything but the mystery that was their boss.

**A/N: So yeah I'm back, sorta. No applause really I know how much you all missed me (haha kidding kidding). Yeah I just got the idea and felt like writing. I know this chapter was short but I guess there will be more to come. **

**So what's going on with Gibbs?...**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Wow! You guys made me feel so loved haha. I just posted and got like, 3 or 4 reviews right afterwards!**

**Thank you! Alright to continue (maybe I'll finally get a chapter that exceeds 900 characters haha).**

After the team had finished up at the scene they got in the truck for another silent ride, this time back to NCIS. When they arrived, Gibbs headed up to the squad room, leaving Tony, Ziva and McGee to bring the evidence from the back of the truck up to Abby's.

As they began to pull the boxes out of the back of the truck, the trio started talking.

"So, what do you guys think it is?" Tony frowned at McGee.

"Well Probie, don't you think if we knew we would share it with the rest of the class?"

Ziva decided to step in at that point.

"I honestly think we should leave it alone. Gibbs would not like us prying into his personal business." She grabbed the last box and turned, following the pair up to Abby's lab.

When they came to the door, Tony spun around all of a sudden, his eyes wide.

"How are we gonna keep this from Abby?! She can read us all so easily! If she knows something is wrong she's going to freak out!" he said in a hushed voice.

Ziva and McGee exchanged a look. They all knew he was right. Abby and Gibbs were so close; if something was wrong it would send her into a tailspin. None of them wanted to deal with that.

After some hesitation, McGee finally spoke.

"Ok, here's the plan: We go in, leave the boxes and tell her we are really busy and can't stay and chat.. What do you think?" Ziva shrugged, indifferent to the idea. Tony just nodded and, taking a deep breath, walked swiftly into the music filled lab.

"HeyAbsgottadropoffthisevidence. Notimetotalkreallybusy." Tony rattled off a little too quickly. The other too just walked in, placed the boxes on the desk, and headed for the door. They were so close and then...

"Hold it RIGHT there you guys!" They all winced in unison. The same thing thought occurred to each of them.

McGee - "So.."

Tony - "Damn.."

Ziva - "_Close!"._

At this point the couldn't run, so they turned right around and dragged themselves into her lab, heads bowed low.

"You guys _always_ have time to talk to me!" Abby whined, at first oblivious to the situation. The team quickly exchanged a hopeful glance, hoping they hadn't been made. Their hopes were squashed when a look of realization dawned on the forensic scientist's face.

"You're avoiding me... But why would you do.." her next thought answered her own question as she began to piece things together. "Something is wrong. You're trying to hide it from me. I thought we were a team you guys c'mon."

McGee couldn't hold out on her. He looked at Tony and Ziva sheepishly and shrugged.

"Um.. Abby something is up with Gibbs. He's been acting strange all day." He put on his innocent face. "We would have told you Abby we just know you guys are really close and we didn't want to worry you."

She narrowed her eyes at Tim. As much as she tried to hide it, tears were glistening on the edges.

McGee enveloped her in a hug, leaving Tony and Ziva to feel extremely bad. The room was silent except for the occasional beeps of several machines operating throughout the lab.

Abby sniffled and regained her composure.

"I'm not mad. I understand why you did it and it's okay," she said with a nod. "What do you guys know? I mean, there has to be some reason for this so did you hear anything?"

"Ducky did say something about tomorrow.." Tony muttered. "My guess is that whatever is bothering the Boss man has to do with something that happened on that date.."

"Well the man is an enigma. He doesn't talk about the past, so how could we know?" McGee commented earning him a look from Abby.

"We have to find out Tim, this affects all of us! We're a family, we don't let each other deal with these things alone. I can't deal with a sad Gibbs, it'll kill me.."

"Not if he doesn't kill us first, the man looked like he was on the verge," Tony remarked.

"You have no idea how much closer to the verge I'll be if you all don't get back to work," came a voice quiet with anger from behind them.

The team turned very slowly to find Gibbs' cobalt blues staring with fury at them.

"The next time you decide to talk about me behind my back, take a little less time to do so."

The three took this as their cue to exit in a rather quick manner. Abby turned to look at Gibbs', her eyes betraying the question she wanted to ask so badly. She opened her mouth to speak only to have her words silenced by Gibbs pressing his finger up against them.

"I know you want to help Abby. But the thing is no one can help me right now. Don't bother." It was the most defeated Leroy Jethro Gibbs had ever sounded in his life. He turned and left Abby to stare at the spot where he had been standing, left her to think about how the rock of their family was beginning to crumble.

**A/N: Welllllll.. I didn't quite get the desired effect I was going for in this chapter. I'm sorry if you were waiting on this, it's just that high school (to put it mildly) sucks when it comes to finishing your workload and still having time to write. Hopefully this will be satisfying enough until the next chapter. Please review!**


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